The Doubleclicks

History

The Webber sisters grew up in Westford and Boston, Massachusetts listening to the Smothers Brothers (particularly their version of "Streets of Laredo"), "Weird Al" Yankovic and Tom Lehrer. They were part of a musical and artistic family; their father, Stephen Webber, is a music professor at Berklee College of Music, and they claim to have been playing music since before they could read; their mother, Susan Webber, is a fiber artist and former Spanish teacher. Both attended Abbot Elementary, where they first learned to use stringed instruments, and Westford Academy, with Aubrey graduating in 2003 and Angela in 2006. They were part of a rock band in high school but had no plans to form a duo. Angela moved to Portland, Oregon to study International Affairs at Lewis & Clark College (with a year at the Anglo-American University in 2008) and Aubrey studied classical cello at the Berklee College of Music before moving to Portland as well.

The sisters performed as a duo on open mic nights before booking a real gig at Mississippi Pizza. At first, the band was a part-time endeavour. Angela worked a freelance writer and journalist, at the Beaverton Valley Times and Portland Mercury, while Aubrey was a home-care provider for seniors. The band started their YouTube channel in 2011 with a 6-month song-a-week project and has since been releasing songs on YouTube and CD and touring throughout the US. They write many songs that are funny and emphasize geeky topics. Angela initially wrote most of the songs but describes their more recent songs as a collaborative effort. They often perform at pop culture conventions, at entertainment events such as w00tstock, and in nontraditional music venues such as comic shops and game stores.

Their second album, Lasers and Feelings, debuted at #7 on Billboard's Comedy Albums chart. Their fourth album, President Snakes, debuted at #4 on the same chart and moved to #2 the following week.

The Doubleclicks made a video for their song "Nothing to Prove" about acceptance of women in geek culture. The video featured appearances from celebrities including Kelly Sue DeConnick, Wil Wheaton and Adam Savage—and was covered in print and online media, gaining over 1 million views on YouTube.

In 2014, The Doubleclicks ran a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for their third album, Dimetrodon, produced by Mike Phirman. The campaign raised over $80,000 and was the most successful Portland music Kickstarter to date. Angela quit her day job in December 2011, while the success of the Kickstarter campaign allowed Aubrey to quit her job as well, leaving both sisters able to work full-time on being the Doubleclicks.

Music

Commonly the lyrics to their songs are written by Angela while Aubrey creates the music.

Geek music

The Doubleclicks describe themselves as part of the nerd-folk genre; which is similar to geek rock and nerdcore but without either drums or rapping. Their participation in geek music was not originally intended; it grew naturally from their music and allowed them to tap into the nerd community. Angela Webber stated in 2012, "I don't know if we ever really intended to write 'geeky music'—and that's not exclusively what we do. I write songs about things I think about, which are love, depression, and games and movies" and later, in 2014, "Everybody has self-important, sad love songs. We were doing something that was still earnest, but instead of talking about trees or nature or clubbing, we were using World of Warcraft as a metaphor for sadness." Separately in 2014, she further explained "Our songs are essentially about feelings and about our own experiences. It just happens to be that the metaphors we are making are nerdy ones because those are the cultural touchstones we have." With the increase in the geek demographic, the duo believes that the "geek music" distinction may be becoming redundant.

Ladies of Ragnarok

The Doubleclicks toured with Molly Lewis (and special guests such as Marian Call and Kevin Murphy) in a combined show called "Ladies of Ragnarok" in September 2012. This was Molly's first tour and the Clicks' second; it covered a variety of venues through the American Northeast and Midwest.

JoCo Cruise Crazy

In February 2013 the Doubleclicks were featured performers on the third JoCo Cruise Crazy, a music cruise series based around Jonathan Coulton, Paul and Storm and similar performers

Velociraptour

In May 2013 the Doubleclicks went on a cross-country tour dubbed "Velociraptour" after the subject of their song "Clever Girl."

Snakes On The Radio

In August 16, 2016, it was announced that both The Doubleclicks and Lucia Fasano would begin their tour Snakes On The Radio in the cities Santa Clara, California, Oakland, California, Burbank, California, West Hollywood, California, and Portland, Oregon. The Doubleclicks said they would play both their old songs and newer songs from their latest album President Snakes. Lucia Fasano would play songs from their debut album Radio Silence.

Demo album

Studio albums

EPs

Compilation albums